


Life’s Work

by streetlightSavior



Category: Aurora (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, i really like this comic okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23105599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/streetlightSavior/pseuds/streetlightSavior
Summary: In his most desperate hour, the yet-unnamed vessel of Vash is found by Alinua, a pariah due to her...condition. She attempts to heal him, but something goes decidedly wrong. The man swears he’s fine, but he may not feel the same way soon...
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	1. Planted Seeds

_“I thought maybe I could...hold it together long enough to help.”_

_“I was wrong.”_

\---------------------------

Alinua could feel from the moment her magic reached into the stranger’s soul that something was off. It was like her power, an unwilling extension of her body, had twisted sideways when it made contact. It moved against her will, snaking like the vines she knew so well throughout the man’s being. Her head throbbed, as if something within was beating, struggling to break through her skull.

She jerked her hand back, trying to break the connection. Her whole body tightened up, refusing to budge even a muscle. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe, she tried to scream, she couldn’t, _she had to stop, she had to let go, she had to BREAK FREE--_

With an almighty effort, she wrenched her whole body upwards, staggering to her feet. Finally, the green light, the life magic that she feared so deeply, faded into the dusk. She sat back on the grass, freshly grown moments ago by her influence. Slowly but surely, she caught her breath, trying to steady her mind.

What had she done?

\----------------------------

_Bubbling...something’s boiling._

Vaguely, he could make out something above him. His stomach no longer ached. That was good, though he couldn’t quite remember why. He could feel a woolen blanket resting on his bare chest. How had he lost his shirt? Why did he even pass out in the first place?

Wait, _what about…_

His eyes flung open.

An unfamiliar patchwork of bark and moss coated the ceiling above him, naturally forming a dome reminiscent of a cave. He was in a tree altered by magic.

But the only person who could have wrought the tree into this shape was...

a life mage.

He sat bolt upright, reaching for his wound. It...wasn’t there. Instead of the aching, bloody hole he expected, only smooth scar tissue brushed against his fingers.

Wood struck metal with a loud _clink._ He glanced up.

Seated about ten feet away from him, a cloaked figure stirred a pot hung over live coals. At first, they didn’t seem to notice him, but as he stared, the figure turned. Bright green eyes met his gaze, but as the person stood and began to walk towards him, they faded into an even silver.

Instinctively, he brought his arm up to defend himself. “Who are you?”

The figure maintained its approach. “Where am I?”

A low, feminine voice floated from underneath the hood. “Calm down.”

They hadn’t stopped. He glanced around and saw the sword in its sheath. _Kendal_. The sword’s name, distant yet familiar, echoed through his head. He reached for it, preparing to defend himself. “You’re not from Vash. Are you godless? Were you with _her?”_

His reach faltered as the figure drew back their hood, revealing a purple elf, dressed in a simple tunic, along with leggings, and bearing a truly staggering amount of curly pink hair. She knelt in front of him, holding a small wooden bowl from which steam curled up out of an unknown liquid. “One thing at a time,” she said softly. “How are you feeling?”

Taken aback, he faltered. “I, uh…” He thought for a moment. “Better than when I was bleeding out?”

The elf’s face split into a warm smile. “That’s good.” She knelt beside him. “My name is Alinua, this is my home, and I’m not a citizen, but I’m not a godless exile either.” She offered the bowl towards him. “And before you ask, this is tea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings, readers, of the first ever Aurora fanfic to be housed on AO3 (also possibly the first public Aurora fanfic, period.) I had this idea a couple months ago and only recently decided to jump on the concept and get to writing.  
> My username might be unfamiliar, but it is in fact me, Canine, the guy who runs the fandub. I try to keep busy. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this so far because WHOO BOY, you’ve got a doozy of a story ahead for you.  
> Sorry for the familiar retread—things have to be set up for later.  
> (also this is my first fanfic im trying my best)


	2. Identity Crisis

_ “But the power...has a mind of its own.” _

\--------------------------------------

Alinua regarded the god carefully. From the stories she’d heard, he’d sounded...different than the blonde man sitting across from her. He seemed wary, but there was an undeniable confusion emanating from him that she couldn’t place. Vash had always been described as self-sure, impossible to sway. She understood that the city was gone, but something still seemed wrong. She had to know more. “Now I’ve got a couple questions.” 

She watched him take a sip.

“What happened to the city? How was it destroyed?”   
She paused, afraid to hear the response.

“...and who stabbed you?”

He paused, clearly lost in thought for a moment. He took a deep breath, and the lights seemed to dim in the room.

“...I don’t know her name. She was...strange. She’d besieged the city for months with an army of chimerae. The people were cut off from help, starving. Vash had no choice but to step in.” 

Alinua hung on every word, trying to make sense of the situation as fast as the information let her. 

Everything was adding up so far--she’d noticed some odd movement not too far from her tree in recent memory. She’d avoided it and didn’t give it much of a second thought. Only when the feeling in the distance, a glow representing thousands of souls, vanished with an explosion quieter than her own footfalls, did she notice. 

She had been meditating, slowly growing the small plant in front of her, and when she opened her eyes in shock, it was growing into the ceiling.   
“She looked normal--except for the eyes.”

Alinua started for a moment. She’d seen her reflection when she used her powers. She was intimately familiar with that awful green hue that vanished from her eyes when she blinked. But she knew she had to keep listening.

“She said she wanted Vash’s soul, and she couldn’t have it unless he didn’t have a city anymore.”

Something was off. He was speaking in the third person--Vash doesn’t do that, right? 

_ Why would he… _

“Once she lured him out, she...used some kind of magic. The ground rose up and swallowed the city whole. He tried to stop her, but she didn’t even bleed.” _That’s...interesting._ _How did she…_

_ Wait… _

Something was  _ definitely _ off.

“Her dagger must have been enchanted, because after she stabbed him, his soul was pulled into it, and she--”

  
“Hold on, wait, WAIT!”

“But I thought--”

  
“Aren’t YOU Vash?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter than I wanted, but the next one's gonna be longer. Things start taking a turn for the weird fairly soon...


	3. Growing Concern

_ “I still don’t know what I did to you.” _

\----------------------

He nearly dropped his cup at the question. He sat there for a moment in silence, wracking his brain for a coherent response.

“I’m not! That’s weird, right?”   
He could clearly see his own confusion reflected and magnified tenfold in Alinua, whose eyes searched him over and over, trying to find something.

“Yes! Yes, that’s weird! You - you look just like his incarnation, you were healing too fast-”

He glanced sharply downwards as Alinua picked up Kendal.

“And this is Vash’s sword! If you’re not him, why do you have it?”   
He paused, turning away from Alinua. He knew what he was but…

“I - hold on, I’m not sure how to explain it.”

He turned back slowly, putting his hand to his stomach, as if the wound would help him get the words out more clearly.

“I’m not Vash. I’m...what he left behind?”

Alinua’s face turned from confusion to annoyed worry. “...are you _ sure _ you’re feeling okay?”

He met her gaze. “Considering I shouldn’t exist, I’m doing pretty good.” 

As the words left his lips, something pricked on his skin. He could feel something pressing just beneath the scar tissue on his stomach. 

He glanced down.

Just a hairsbreadth under the surface of his skin, he could see a thin, green, vine, pointing outwards, as if it wanted to break free. That hadn't been there when he had checked five minutes ago.

Alinua didn’t seem to notice.

He closed his eyes and turned away, stepping on to the sword’s breadth of his own memories before reaching back into the hazy ocean of a history that didn’t belong to him. “The first thing I remember clearly is waking up. Before that, it’s more like a dream.”

“Vash was stabbed.”His assailant, shrouded in darkness, flashed before his eyes. He could just make out the definition of her silhouette, dim save for the blue glow of Vash’s soul and her own green eyes. He tried to focus.

“The totality of his essence, freed from his destroyed city, was drawn into the enchanted blade, and she took him into the caves. She left his body abandoned - but his body was a war machine. It wasn’t built to die quickly.”   
“It was damaged, soulless, empty...but still alive.”   
His first moments jumped into the forefront of his mind. The sudden sensation of a ground beneath him, the air around him, the need to breathe--all of it came rushing back.

“And then, after a little while...I realized I existed.”

“At first, I didn’t know where I was--WHAT I was. It was bright, I was in pain--” He winced as he remembered the agony in his gut, coupled with the overwhelming light that filled his eyes as soon as he’d opened them.

“I had a body, but it wasn’t mine. I had memories, but they were distant, like a story I’d been told. I didn’t feel real.  _ Nothing _ felt real.”   
“Then I heard him.”

He could hear his own voice, ringing, echoing, distorted, snaking out from a fissure about ten feet away.

“Vash, calling out from deep underground. He didn’t know how I’d happened, but he didn’t care. He needed help, and I was the only one listening.”

And just like that, he was back to the present.

“Of course, I was still bleeding out from the wound the collector gave him, so I didn’t exactly get very far.” He turned to Alinua, his face stretching into a wide grin. “But since you healed me, I might have a chance!”

Alinua’s breath caught. “Since I…”

But he paid no mind. Turning to his shirt, he blissfully continued. “You did heal me, right? I just assumed-” He paused to get the shirt past his head, missing Alinua’s hand moving to grab her shoulder. “I mean, this tree must have been shaped by life magic, and it would take a skilled healer to deal with my-”

“You can’t leave.”

He twisted around, the joy gone from his face.

“I can’t?”

He could see Alinua’s grip tighten on her arm. The vine in his stomach twitched.

“Why not? What’s going on?”

She began to pull back her cloak.

“...Are you okay?”

She sighed, revealing a green mark emblazoned on the outside of her right arm.

“Not for a very long time. And unfortunately, neither are you.”


	4. Greenlit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something's wrong.

_“Minimizing the damage is all that matters.”_

\--------------------------

Alinua could see the confusion continue to spread across the not-god’s face.

Finally, he spoke his mind. “That’s a rune tattoo...for channeling life magic.” She sighed. “It’s not a tattoo.”

He shook his head. “Not a tattoo? What else could it-”

He froze, bewilderment turning into realization before dropping back into bewilderment.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

She looked down at her curse, mentally preparing to recite the speech that she had prepared for a far angrier visitor than the incomplete shell in front of her.

Pushing down her insecurity, she took a deep breath.

“Because I’m too old, right? ...I wish I had an answer for you. But I was born with the mark. I--”

The words caught on her tongue for a moment.

“I carry the Chimeric Plague.”

Her statement hung in the air, dripping with the doom that it heralded.

She continued.

“You’re right. I’m a life mage. I...healed you, and I shaped this tree. ...But the power has a mind of its own, and it’s only getting harder to keep in check. It’ll get stronger and stronger until I lose control entirely.”

“I shouldn’t have made it past five years old.”

Her thoughts drifted back to just a few short, tense hours ago.

“When I felt the city being I thought maybe I could...hold it together long enough to help.”

The phantom jolt of energy, still fresh from its work, tingled in her hand.

“I was wrong.”

She recalled the green that blazed bright from her hand, creeping past and around his soul, leaving who-knew-what in its wake. "I was just trying to heal you, but I...couldn’t stop. I still don’t know what I did to you. If you were Vash, this wouldn’t be a problem. Gods build their bodies from the ground up. He could fix anything I messed up.”

Just like that, she was back to the present. Tilting her head, she couldn’t stop her annoyance at her situation from leaking into her speech. “...I don’t suppose you really _are_ Vash, and that stab wound just made you lose your memory?”

He hung his head. “Vash is gone.”

Alinua pursed her lips. “Great. Then we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

The man’s head snapped upwards. "No, I can’t wait. Vash is _gone_.”

Just like that, he was on his feet. Before she could react, he was already scanning for the exit, mumbling quickly: “He must have gotten too far away, I can barely sense him anymore, I have to--”

“NO!” Her voice cut loud and clear through his frantic murmurings. “Don’t you get it?” Alinua pushed to her feet to block his path. “I’m sorry, I really am, but none of this is going to matter!” Already, she could feel her emotions bubbling up inside her, beginning to take form into tendrils snaking out towards her extremities. She held her hands up, asking for a moment of pause, before looking into the eyes of the man who was not Vash. They tinted her a deep blue, tinged with...was that--?

She blinked and it was gone. Must have been a trick, right? “Wait, your eyes…”

He took a step back. “...what about them?”

She swallowed and clenched her jaw, searching deep inside them for any trace of corruption. Finally, she saw it and her stomach dropped--a flicker of emerald snaked across his pupil before disappearing into his iris. Fighting down the confirmed fear rising in her throat, she pursed her lips tightly and tried to think of how to handle this. Her mind racing faster than a shooting star, Alinua only managed to stammer out two words.

“They’re green.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAN ITS BEEN FOREVER SINCE I UPLOADED HUH  
> shoutout to magicalballerinaprincess for nudging me the tiny bit necessary to get back into the swing of things.  
> So, did you notice that we're starting off the rails? It's all downhill from here ;)  
> More chapters soon.


End file.
